"Caro mio ben, credimi almen, senza di te languisce il cor," etcetera.
Tears gathered in her fine eyes as she sang, and the final note of the song was almost a sob; for she possessed the comparatively rare ability to evolve the feeling and sentiment of the words she sang and make them her own, thus bringing them home to the hearts of those who listened.
Yet she laughingly apologised for herself the next moment, as she turned away from the piano, upon receiving the hearty thanks of her little audience; for, although she was a true artist, she was entirely free from any morbidity of feeling, being, in fact, a perfectly natural, light-hearted girl. And her gay and cheerful disposition was already rea.s.serting itself now that, if she might accept the a.s.surances of the professor and her new-found friends, her father"s troubles were nearing their end, and his deliverance from persecution was a matter of but a few hours more.
Then the professor sang a rollicking German students" song. He was followed by Lady Olivia, who sang Gounod"s "Ave Maria," accompanied by her husband on the piano, and the professor on the organ. Then Mildmay produced his violin. And so the time slipped rapidly on until the clock upon the mantelpiece struck the hour of midnight, when "Good-nights"
were said, and the ladies retired to their respective cabins; while the four men wended their way to the pilot-house to indulge in a final smoke, and incidentally to raise the _Flying Fish_ into the air and start her upon her long flight across Russia, from north to south.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
THE RESCUE.
It was a matter of but a few moments to raise the _Flying Fish_ five thousand feet into the air, start her engines, and head her on her course for Odessa, which lies practically due south of Saint Petersburg.
Then, there being no mountains in the way--nothing, in fact, that, at the height of five thousand feet, could possibly interfere with their flight--the little party retired to their respective cabins and turned in, leaving the great ship to take care of herself and pursue her way unwatched; Mildmay and the professor undertaking to rise betimes in the morning and call the other two early enough to a.s.sist in the capture-- for that was what it amounted to--of the convict-ship.
Mildmay possessed the very useful faculty of being able to awake at any prearranged moment, and, in the exercise of this faculty, he rose from his cot as the first faint streaks of dawn filtered in through the port of his berth, and proceeded forthwith to the bathroom, growing conscious, as he went, of the fact that the temperature had become very much milder during the last few hours. This, however, was only what might be naturally expected, since the ship had been speeding to the southward all through the night at the rate of one hundred and twenty miles per hour, in addition to such further speed as she might have derived from the favourable gale that had been aiding her flight.
The rise of temperature, however, had not perceptibly communicated itself to the water of the bath, which the gallant captain found to be icy cold. There was, therefore, no temptation for him to linger, and a few brief minutes sufficed him to complete his ablutions and return to his cabin, rousing the professor as he went. Then, dressing with the expedition of a seaman, he wended his way to the pilot-house, where, some ten minutes later, he was joined by von Schalckenberg, who in his turn was quickly followed by George, bearing on a tray two cups of scalding hot coffee and a small plate of biscuits.
The light of the coming day had by this time so far increased that the occupants of the pilot-house were enabled to see somewhat of their surroundings. The first discovery made by them was that they had outrun the gale of the previous night, and were now sweeping through an atmosphere that, judging from the appearance of the few small shreds of cloud that floated about and above them, must be nearly or quite motionless. And the next was that, as a result of this change of weather, the _Flying Fish_ was fully one hundred miles from the spot where, in accordance with their calculations of the previous night, she ought at that moment to have been. According to those calculations she ought then to have been clear of the land and well out over the Black Sea, whereas the land was still beneath the ship, although, so clear was the atmosphere, the gleam of sea could just be detected on the extreme verge of the southern horizon, some eighty-five miles ahead. But this, after all, was a matter of very trifling import; it would defer the capture of the _Ludwig Gadd_ to the extent of about an hour only, which Mildmay and the professor agreed was "neither here nor there."
Meanwhile, there was just one trifling item of preparation to be attended to, and, having leisurely imbibed their morning coffee and munched a biscuit or two, they stopped the engines of the _Flying Fish_, and retired from the pilot-house to attend to it. Treading noiselessly in their india rubber-soled shoes, they descended to one of the storerooms, throwing open the door giving access to the deck on their way, and there loaded themselves with a number of queer-looking objects constructed of aethereum, with which they wended their way to the deck.
Arrived here, they sought out a certain spot on the deck, about midway between the pilot-house and the fore end of the superstructure, and quite close to the port rail; and, having found it, they at once proceeded to remove three small aethereum discs from the deck, disclosing three sunk bolt-holes so arranged as to form the angles of an equilateral triangle measuring eighteen inches along each side. The top ends of the bolts in these holes revealed themselves about a quarter of an inch below the level of the deck, and were easily grasped by the fingers and drawn upward by about a couple of inches. Over these three bolts a base-piece was next carefully arranged, which done, the nuts were put on to the bolt-ends and screwed up tight by means of a spanner.
Then, upon this base-piece was rapidly built up the component parts of what, upon completion, proved to be a Maxim gun, constructed entirely of aethereum, with an aethereum shield or turret, cylindrically shaped in such a manner as to protect completely the entire person of the gunner, the whole affair being so arranged that the gun could be trained in any direction by the inmate of the shield. The mounting of this gun and shield, and the placing in position of an entire case of cartridges in readiness for firing, occupied the two men but a bare quarter of an hour, at the expiration of which time they returned to the pilot-house, closed the door, and once more sent the engines ahead at full speed.
Meanwhile the pause, that had been necessary to enable them to execute this task in comfort to themselves, had enabled them to determine the fact that the atmosphere was practically in a state of calm, the ship having revealed no perceptible drift in any direction, when once she had lost her "way" or momentum through the air after the stoppage of her engines.
The pair had scarcely settled themselves again comfortably in the pilot-house when the sun rose, and they found themselves sweeping at headlong speed over a vast plain intersected by a perfect network of streams and rivers, and dotted here and there with towns and villages, a few of which they were able to identify by means of a map which they opened and spread out upon the table before them. Minute by minute the sea, gleaming like a polished mirror in the light of the new-born day, spread itself ever more broadly before and to the left of them, and soon the indentation of Odessa Bay, with the town stretching along its southern margin, came into view. They now decided that the moment had arrived when the remaining male members of the party ought to be called.
The professor accordingly retired to perform this service, and presently returned with the information that Sir Reginald and Colonel Lethbridge were already astir and taking their coffee in the dining-room. A few minutes later these two gentlemen made their appearance in the pilot-house with a cheery "Good morning" to Mildmay.
"The professor tells us that Odessa is in sight," remarked Sir Reginald, peering ahead through one of the ports. "Is that the place, right ahead, on the far side of the bay, with the two lakes beyond it?"
"Yes," answered Mildmay, "that is Odessa. But what you take to be the second lake--the more distant and larger sheet of water--is Dniester Bay, the estuary of the river Dniester; and if you will look away there into the far distance on our right, you will catch glimpses here and there of the stream winding through the landscape."
"Yes, of course; I see it quite distinctly," returned Sir Reginald; "and the broad sheet of water ahead and on our port bow, I take it, is the Black Sea. When do you expect to sight the convict-ship?"
"In the course of the next hour I hope to be alongside her," answered Mildmay. "Fortunately for us, the weather is gloriously clear, and we ought, therefore, to sight her at a very considerable distance.
Furthermore, since we know, within a very few miles, precisely where to look for her, I think we need not antic.i.p.ate any difficulty in the matter of identification. And, once alongside her, I propose to make short work of the job, even should she happen to be in company with other ships. For, in such an event, no other craft--unless, indeed, she should happen to be a Russian man-o"-war--will be in the least degree likely to interfere with us."
"Have you decided upon your plan of operation?" demanded Lethbridge.
"Yes," answered Mildmay. "I propose that as soon as we have sighted and identified the steamer, we sink to the surface of the water, and approach our quarry in the character of an ordinary ship of more or less mysterious appearance, for by so doing we shall render our own identification all the more difficult. It will be necessary that the professor and I should remain here in the pilot-house--I to manoeuvre the _Flying Fish_, and the professor, prompted by me, to do the hailing part of the business, since he is the only man among us who can make himself thoroughly intelligible in the Russian language. We have mounted one of our Maxims, as you have, doubtless, already observed; for it is improbable that the skipper of the other craft will concede our demands until we have convinced him of our power to enforce them, and I shall therefore be obliged to request one of you two gentlemen to take charge of the gun, while the other stations himself in the torpedo-room for"ard, and stands by to fire a torpedo-sh.e.l.l if necessary."
"Very well," said Sir Reginald. "I will take the Maxim, and Lethbridge will no doubt attend to the torpedo part of the business. But I hope,"
he added, "it will not be necessary to use one of those terrible sh.e.l.ls, for, if it is, the loss of life will be frightful."
"Not necessarily," said the professor. "Mildmay and I have talked the matter over together, and our gallant friend is confident of his ability to manoeuvre the _Flying Fish_ so that the firing of a sh.e.l.l shall result in nothing more serious than the destruction of the convict-ship"s rudder and propeller, thus completely disabling her without imperilling her safety."
"Very well," rather reluctantly a.s.sented the baronet; "if that can be done, well and good, but for pity"s sake, Mildmay, be very careful what you do."
"I will," responded Mildmay. "I am not altogether without hope that we may be able to accomplish our purpose without the necessity to resort to so stringent a measure as the firing of a sh.e.l.l; and in any case I promise you that I will only do so after all other means have failed.
But here we are, clear of the land at last; and we must alter our course a point and a half to the westward to intercept the chase."
It was exactly thirty-six minutes later, by the clock in the pilot-house, that Mildmay, peering out through one of the port-holes, pointed straight ahead, and exclaimed--
"There she is! There cannot be any mistake about it, for yonder steamer is exactly where the _Ludwig Gadd_ ought to be; and there is no other craft anywhere in sight."
The other three men forthwith stepped to the nearest port that would afford a view of the chase, and gazed eagerly ahead. And there, immediately over the long, tapering, conical-pointed bow of the _Flying Fish_ they beheld, some ten miles distant, a small, faintly denned grey blotch on the mirror-like surface of the sea, with a trail of black smoke issuing from it, as though the furnaces on board her had just been freshly stoked.
"We will descend and take to the water at once," remarked Mildmay. "The conditions could not possibly be more favourable for the success of our plans; and I take it that we shall all be glad to get this business over as soon as possible, and our suspense brought to an end."
Therewith he laid his hand upon a small wheel, and gave it two or three turns, thus partially opening the main air-valve and admitting a thin stream of air into the vacuum chambers of the _Flying Fish_, with the result that the huge craft at once began to settle down toward the surface of the sea, upon which, a few minutes later, she floated buoyantly as a soap-bubble. Then the main air-pumps were set to work, forcing compressed air into the vacuum chambers, and causing the ship to sink very gradually in the water, while at the same time, to facilitate the operation of sinking, water was admitted into certain of the ballast chambers in the ship"s bottom until she floated at her ordinary trim for cruising on the surface of the sea--that is to say, with the whole of her immense propeller completely submerged, and her conical-pointed bow buried to the depth of a foot or so. During this operation of submergence the engines had been stopped, but they were now sent ahead again at full speed; and some ten minutes later the singular-looking craft ranged up on the weather quarter of a big black-hulled steamer of about three thousand tons register, the round stern of which bore the name of _Ludwig Gadd_ in large, yellow-painted Russian characters. This alone was sufficient to identify her beyond question as the convict-ship of which they were in search; but if further evidence had been needed it was to be found in the "pen"--a stout, substantially built wooden structure of closely set palings, about ten feet high, that occupied nearly the whole of the fore-deck, except a narrow alley-way on each side of it to allow of the pa.s.sage of the crew fore and aft, and which included the great main hatchway, the covers of which had been replaced by a stout grating, with a small aperture in it just large enough for a man to squeeze through, and at which a soldier with a loaded rifle stood guard.
There were not many people visible about the convict-ship"s decks, for the hour was still early, and the business of the day had not yet begun--although, had she been British, her crew would already have been at the job of washing the decks and scouring the paint and bra.s.s-work.
But here a solitary seaman slouched to and fro on the topgallant forecastle, keeping a perfunctory lookout; two or three others lolled over the rail forward, staring in stupid, open-mouthed wonderment at the silver shape of the _Flying Fish_; and the officer of the watch paced the bridge athwartships with an air of great importance, pausing for a moment every time he pa.s.sed the compa.s.s, to glance into its bowl, or murmur a word to quicken the vigilance of the helmsman.
As the _Flying Fish_, her name temporarily masked by tarpaulins carelessly dropped over it, ranged up on the other craft"s starboard quarter, close enough to heave a biscuit aboard her, this man paused in his strutting march, and, standing at the extreme end of the bridge, gazed with quite visible perturbation at the strange apparition that seemed to have sprung from nowhere in particular within a very few minutes; and presently, having meanwhile seemingly made up his mind that what he beheld was really a ship, hailed in Russian--
"Ho, the ship ahoy! Port your helm, and sheer off a bit; you"ll be aboard me if you are not careful!" At the same time he waved his hand to his own helmsman to starboard his helm.
But Mildmay was a British naval officer--a man who, by training and the tradition of the Service, had acquired the habit of prompt resolution, and an equal prompt.i.tude of action in the conversion of such resolution into an accomplished fact. The helmsman of the _Ludwig Gadd_, therefore, had scarcely begun to revolve his steering-wheel ere the _Flying Fish_, with her speed accurately reduced to that of the other vessel, had sheered still closer, while von Schalckenberg, prompted by his companion, hailed in Russian, through one of the pilot-house ports--
"_Ludwig Gadd_, ahoy! Is your captain on deck?"
"No, he is not," bawled back the Russian officer. "Why should he be on deck at this unearthly hour of the morning? And if you do not instantly sheer off, I will give orders to my men to open fire upon you! What do you want? and what do you mean by sheering up alongside me in this manner?"
The professor rapidly translated this communication to Mildmay, and at once, again prompted by the latter, replied--
"Be good enough to stop your engines at once, sir, and send a message to your captain that his presence is required on the bridge. I have an important communication to make to him. And, for your own sake, you will do well to say nothing about opening fire upon us; for, as you may see for yourself, our machine-gun is already trained to sweep your decks, while a single torpedo would suffice to blow you out of the water. I beg to a.s.sure you that resistance is quite useless; you are absolutely at our mercy, and you will therefore be well advised to yield prompt obedience to our request!"
The Russian stood staring with mingled fury and bewilderment for a few seconds; and then, having apparently arrived at the conclusion that discretion would perhaps in this case prove the better part of valour, he laid his hand upon the engine-room telegraph apparatus. A tinkling of bells in the ship"s interior was distinctly heard by those aboard the _Flying Fish_, and presently the churning of water about the convict-ship"s rudder suddenly ceased, showing that her engines had been stopped. At the same moment the officer on her bridge called a sailor to him, and, with a few brief words, undistinguishable to those in the _Flying Fish"s_ pilot-house, dispatched him to the interior of the vessel.
It is probable that the skipper of the _Ludwig Gadd_ had already been awakened by the hailing that had pa.s.sed between the two craft, for in less than five minutes he emerged from the cabin under the p.o.o.p, and, making his way forward, leisurely ascended to the bridge, where he was at once accosted by the officer in charge. He listened gravely to this individual"s communication, glancing with much curiosity meanwhile at the strange glittering shape that floated quietly close alongside, and then, striding to the starboard extremity of the narrow structure upon which he stood, he hailed, in true nautical fashion--
"Ship ahoy! What ship is that?"
"Are you the captain of the _Ludwig Gadd_?" hailed back the professor, ignoring the previous question.
"Ay, ay," answered the skipper, waving his hand impatiently. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
"You have on board your ship a certain Colonel Sziszkinski, who is being transported as a convict. Is it not so?" answered the professor.
"How do you suppose _I_ should know?" yelled back the skipper, savagely.
"I know nothing whatever about the convicts aboard here. If your business has to do with any of them, you had better see the officer who is going out in charge of them."
"Of course," commented Mildmay, when this had been translated to him.
"I ought to have thought of that. Ask him to send for the fellow to come up on to the bridge."
This was done; and about a quarter of an hour later a man attired in a green military uniform, with a sword belted to his side, and spurs screwed to the heels of his boots, ascended to the bridge and was promptly engaged in conference by the skipper. Presently the latter came to the starboard end of the bridge, accompanied by the soldier, and hailed--